The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-03-24
LIFE IN WILD SIBERIA.
How People Exist in One OF the
Coolest Countries in the World.

"In each cabin is the large fireplace,
which is used for both heating and
cooking" said Lieut.. w. H. Scheutze,
who has travelled in northwest Siberia.
There is seldom more than one room
in these cabins. and usually the owners
cattle, if he has any, occupy one end
of the room in which he lives, being
tied or prevented from trampling on
the babies by bar. The houses are
commonly very comfortable, but are
awfully dirty, and smell-thers is no
word to describe it. Often, until got
used to it, would rather lay down in
the snow outside, with the thermome-
ter so degrees below zero, than sleep
in one of the huts. But you've no idea
what man can stand when he has
to-"
Have they windows in their
houses?''
"Yes, ice windows. They use ice as
we use glass. A clear piece is select
ed about five or six inches thick, NOR
tised in the window-opening in blocks
two feet and sometimes as large as four
feet square, and with water is made
solid. The water is as good as putty.
When the window becomes dirty they
scrape it off with knife, and when it
has been scraped thin they substitute
new pane"
Doesn't the window ever melt?''
''Bless you, no; it is freezing cold that
far from the fire. If the room ever got
warm enough to melt the ice the Yakut
couldn't 1--we in it, and would have to
60 out doors to cool off. At night the
fire is allowed to 60 out, as they have
to economise in fuel. ALI they have is
driftwood, gathered On the banks of
the Lena river in the summer time"
'How do they sleep? Do they un-
dress when they go to bed?'
always. They strip to their shirts.
which are made of thick sort of Rus
sian clcth, as heavy as our canvas. The
men and women wear the same kind of
garments, and never have more than
one at time. took up lot of thick
flannel for them, enough to last the
rest of their lives, and it will be great
deal more comfortable than the native
suit, although they don't like it at first.
When they undress they get into hunks
built in the side OF. the house. sometimes
a man. his wife, and all his children in
the same bunk. They have reindeer
skins under and over them. and cur
tains of the same hanging before the
bunks.''
"Do they ever bathe?''
"Never in their lives. They haven't
any word for bathing in their language.
and the impossibility of keeping clean
is one of the greatest hardships of Arc
tic life."
"What do they eat?"
Reindeer meat, beef, they have
cows, queer looking animals about half
as large as ours, with hummock on
their backs like a camel, fish, bread
made of black rye -four, tea, and an i'm
ported food made of chopped beef roll
ed into balls about the size OF marble
and covered with a dough. These they
pound up and make into soup. There
is wood that is very nutritious when
tits ground up and boiled. Mixed with
reindeer meat it makes good soup.
They often eat their fish raw Of
course they freeze solid as soon as they
are taken out of the water, and the ma
tive, particularly if he is on the road,
cuts them off in shavings as thin as our
Clipped beef, and eats them raw. They
are palatable, and have lived for days
at time on them, with cup of coffee.
made over an alcohol-lamp, by way of
variety, The greatest luxury they have
is butter, and they will eat it by the
pound as our people eat confectionery.
A poor sort of butter is made from the
milk of native COW, that looks and
tastes more like cheese, and they prize
it above all other classes of food,
''The amount of butter a native will
eat when he can get it." continued
Lieut., Scheutze, ''is astonishing. A
friend of mine in Siberia told me of a
man who ate thirty-six pounds in one
day, and then didn't get all he wanted.
They have way of pounding up red
berry and mixing it with butter. which
gives it beautiful pink tint and inn
proves the flavor. Their drink is the
Russian vodka, almost pure alcohol.
and they will trade their shirts for it.
The liquor is scarce but expensive, so
they are necessarily temperate peo.
pie. ."-Cincinnati Sun.